That’s the mantra spewing from the majority of media outlets out there these days, and it has been for some time. After a few bouts of restructuring, being sold for half a billion dollars, being sold again for around $40 million, seeing their front office occupied by Rupert Murdoch, Justin Timberlake and more, MySpace certainly has had a tumultuous last few years.
Their numbers have dropped dramatically and the average outsider’s view of this former social media titan has evolved into one that may be shared with the likes of Enron, Merrill Lynch, WaMu, the US Government, Planet Hollywood, Jessica Simpson’s edible body products (Dessert?), etc. These companies/institutions (and more) started out pretty sweet, but they all met an unfortunate end. Whether that be at the hands of complete morons, criminals, massive debt, horrid ideas, band-aide fixes on gaping wounds…….(and whatever else those other companies did, I’m just referencing the US government here), it made no difference, they were still the butt of many a joke. These companies have become models of what not to do in business. MySpace has been unfortunately and erroneously lumped in with this crowd.
Let’s break it down a bit, shall we? We begin with the doom-sayers. Those who have declared MySpace dead include Forbes (“Not bankrupt gone, but MySpace gone.”), Business Insider (“Now that Myspace all but dead, where are the artists going to go?” {Bad grammar is there’s. Editing, folks. Editing.}), RedWriteWeb (“Just like being a teenager, MySpace is something that most people grow out of.”), and Spydurhman from Twitpic (“Why is MySpace even an option? lol how silly. Don’t they know MySpace is dead?”).
These folks have all taken to their soap boxes to proclaim that MySpace is dead. They shout out to their followers that MySpace is a laughable property/option that should never be taken seriously ever again because their relevance and influence has waned to a point that makes them less than nothing.
Let’s expose some hypocrisy here. These folks speak of relevance. How is relevance measured online? Through unique visits. Let’s see how relevant MySpace is compared to the haters that I listed above. This should be fun.
Ready for a shock? MySpace has seen a resurgence in unique site visits in the past few months. Instead of remaining in a steady fall, the unique visits graph is beginning to climb again. In March, MySpace saw over 19 million unique visits. That’s up almost 2 million from February.
These haters (and others like them) that are trumpeting MySpace’s death can not touch their unique visit numbers. Forbes saw a little more than 10 million unique visits in March. Business Insider had a little more than 3 million. ReadWriteWeb could only muster a little more than 390,000. As for Spydurhman, to answer your question on why MySpace is an option for sharing a photo, that’s because MySpace saw almost 17 million more unique visitors than TwitPic.
And oh, by the way, after posing the question of where musicians should go to be seen and heard now that “MySpace is dead”, Business Insider suggests Gigmaven. While Gigmaven is a fun little site, it only received a little more than five…….thousand unique visits in March. Grand suggestion that, Business Insider!
There is a culture out in this big brave world that relishes failure. When failure is sensed, the dogs of war are let loose and the feeding frenzy begins, while, quietly, the supposedly failed service is busy restructuring, revamping and Timberlaking (new verb, copyright me).
Folks have counted out MySpace because 19 million visits in March is nowhere near the 170 million that Facebook posted. Well, newsflash everybody! MySpace has not been trying to be Facebook for quite some time now.
“MySpace has specialized,” says Oneupweb’s Social Media maven Sarah Peschel. “They are like the internet MTV now and suddenly I’m totally intrigued. Probably helps that they are featuring Santagold on the home page and I’m a huge fan. I don’t think Facebook will ever disappear, but I can’t predict what their future will look like. If they actually do incorporate bangin’ search capabilities, they’ll transform their future in a way that has them vying for pole position. If they don’t, maybe they end up specializing in connecting organ donors with gracious recipients via Facebook interface. The future is what you make it right?”
MySpace doesn’t care about Facebook disappearing. Sarah has, once again, hit the proverbial nail right on the noggin here. While everyone has been screaming “MYSPACE ESTA MUERTO!” MySpace has been busy looking to the future.
This site isn’t a joke. It isn’t a failure. It’s a property that spearheaded the social media revolution. But, like many revolutionary products, companies and services, it evolved into something that filled a niche market.
Name another online property that allows you free, unfettered access to your favorite music industry titans and up and comers. Go ahead. I’ll wait. You can’t. No other site on the web has the capabilities and resources that MySpace has when it comes to entertainment and the music industry. Not Twitter, not Facebook, not YouTube. No other site can give an artist the sort of exposure and platform that MySpace can.
Why MySpace? Why today? Because MySpace is a metaphor on business as a whole. Every company has a talent unique to them. Every industry has a need for that talent. True success comes in connecting that need with that talent. Facebook connects friends, family and stalkers. Twitter allows us to experience TMI. YouTube gives us all access into the private lives of strangers, and the ability to laugh at them when they hurt themselves.
MySpace has completely embraced every facet of online life that an artist will need to be viable in social media and they have allowed for it in one simple space.
Have an interesting post/pic/page on MySpace? Share it on Facebook.
That’s right. The Facebook share button is on MySpace.
MySpace will also post your Tweets in your daily feed.
YouTube, photo sharing, calendars and more, combined with all of MySpace’s unique features, will make this site the entertainment powerhouse of the future.
A site that is at the top its game within its niche is far from dead. I’m a huge fan of zombies and MySpace appears to be one of the originals. It is growing, it is dominating and it is spreading music to the masses no matter where you are.